Shotgun ammo - slugs, 00 buck , #4 shot - real practical uses?

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somethingspecial

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As I make an attempt to give some sober second thought to jumping on ammo-kate's deal for Canadian made 00-buck, I've been thinking about what use is 00 buck shotgun ammunition?

Here's what I'm going over:
Slugs - bear defense of course (and hunting deer for shotgun only season),
#1 or #4 shot or somewhere in between; possibly a safe ammunition (due to reduced wall penetration) in the unlikely event that a shotgun comes to hand if jumped by bad guys in your home; hunting geese other fowl?
00 buck - not guaranteed lethal for bears closeup, or deer past 40-50 yards; too dangerous for use in builtup areas (due to wall penetration.) Excellent for blasting targets to pieces for fun.

What are your thoughts? Is there a practical reason (other than simply having fun) to use 00-buck?
 
I watched some YouTube videos on 00 Buck. It had a lot more penetration than I expected. It would be excellent on deer, for example.

Where I hunt, most shots are at 50 yards, or less. often much less. I think I have only taken one shot over 50 yards, and that was at 125 yards. I used a scoped 308 for a clean one shot kill.

For all the other deer, 00 Buck would have been perfect. And a slug would also have be fine.
 
Brobee did quite a few buck experiments on here and his youtube channel (including one showing a start-to-finish deer hunt), great videos I would recommend taking a peek.
 
Pattern density would limit 00 buck to 40 yards or less for most guns and clean kills of deer. Not 40-50 yds like many suppose. Pattern boards tell the tale. Minimum 3 hits in the vitals for a quick clean kill. That said, at 35 yards or less 00 buck is usually a very deadly deer load.
As you said, #1-4 shot is effective sizes for geese, but only non- toxic shot like steel is allowed for waterfowl.
 
00 Buck is also good for pest control like porcupines, beavers, skunks, coons, as well as close range hunting. Or it's just good for a walk in the bush. Buckshot close up is very lethal don't kid yourself.
 
More perspective is always good. In no way am I saying 00 buck isn't deadly. I was reading some stuff regarding the range limits of 00 buck and a humane kill on deer. It started me wondering whether it makes sense to use it. I could see it being the right load for short range dense bush on deer certainly!

Thanks for the input.
 
somethingspecial said:
More perspective is always good. In no way am I saying 00 buck isn't deadly. I was reading some stuff regarding the range limits of 00 buck and a humane kill on deer. It started me wondering whether it makes sense to use it. I could see it being the right load for short range dense bush on deer certainly!

Thanks for the input.
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The new flitecontrol wads and similar are supposed to help quite a bit, I haven't got to pattern any yet.
 
canadaman30 said:
00 Buck is also good for pest control like porcupines, beavers, skunks, coons, as well as close range hunting. Or it's just good for a walk in the bush. Buckshot close up is very lethal don't kid yourself.
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Yep - I'm going to go with canadaman30 on this one - 00 is never far from my tactical shotties ......

Abby
 
KidGlock said:
Alternating 00buck with slugs is also for bear defense.
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I've had experience with bears killed in defense using alternating 00buck with 12ga slugs. The 00buck rarely made it through the first set of ribs. 12ga slugs were capable of penetrating the first set of ribs and delivered all their energy inside the body, and on one occasion, the second set of ribs. After penetrating the second set, the slug was moving so slowly that it failed to exit the body. These shots ranged from 20 to 40 yards.

In one charging frontal shot case, a slug struck a shoulder joint, instantly shocking and dropping the bear, whereupon it was easily dispatched.

Based on my experiences I would say to leave the 00buck at home and fill up on slugs for bear protection. Slugs are VERY accurate within bear defense range and suffer very little deflection passing through light brush.

All in all, I'd rather see them alive than dead, but I always want the outcome of any encounter to be MY choice, not the bear's.

Cheers
 
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BCcarrier said:
I've had experience with bears killed in defense using alternating 00buck with 12ga slugs. The 00buck rarely made it through the first set of ribs. 12ga slugs were capable of penetrating the first set of ribs and delivered all their energy inside the body, and on one occasion, the second set of ribs. After penetrating the second set, the slug was moving so slowly that it failed to exit the body. These shots ranged from 20 to 40 yards.

In one charging frontal shot case, a slug struck a shoulder joint, instantly shocking and dropping the bear, whereupon it was easily dispatched.

Based on my experiences I would say to leave the 00buck at home and fill up on slugs for bear protection. Slugs are VERY accurate within bear defense range and suffer very little deflection passing through light brush.

All in all, I'd rather see them alive than dead, but I always want the outcome of any encounter to be MY choice, not the bear's.

Cheers
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I bet 3" 00 buck to the head of a bear at 15 yds would put the lights out. Just a question if the bears were broad side and giving you a perfect shot why were they shot in defense?
 
The sloping nature of a bear's skull when he is very close and his body language screams aggression is not a good target for 00 Buck in my opinion. Pellets tend to break the hide and travel under it to exit the bear's head without doing much more than giving the bruin Excedrin headache number 27. I would feel a lot better with rifled slugs in the mag. 00 Buck works well at close range on thin skinned lightly built animals like whitetail deer. Even a standard 2 3/4 inch 00 load carries nine .33 caliber balls and will anchor a deer nicely within 30 or 35 yards. Beyond that range effectiveness declines rapidly. My 2 cents.

canadaman30 said:
I bet 3" 00 buck to the head of a bear at 15 yds would put the lights out. Just a question if the bears were broad side and giving you a perfect shot why were they shot in defense?
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